Portland’s Pink Snowflakes return to town Saturday night for a show at Silver Moon Brewing with The Quick & Easy Boys. I caught up with head Snowflake Andrew Rossi to talk about the origins of the band’s acid-streaked psych-rock and what their upcoming album is going to sound like. Here’s an excerpt:
The new album also dips into a variety of different styles, running the gamut from shoegaze to “countryish” stuff, according to Rossi, who’s a fan of everything from Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett to the cosmic twang of Giant Sand to the old psych-jazz band Spirit. Rather than try to emulate one specific band from the past, Rossi wants to incorporate a little of everything into the Snowflakes.
“I’m alive now, so I can take all these influences. I can take anything from any of these people and I can mix it up and try to do something with it that might be somewhat appealing,” he said. “Maybe to some people it would be confusing, but that’s where my head’s at. I don’t want to just come across as a revisionist artist. I want to take things and mix them up and do something very playful and surreal.”
Rossi is a fun guy with a fertile mind. Read my whole article here. (You can also read my review of their February 2009 show at Players Bar here.)
Dallin Bulkley, left, and Andrew Carew, right, of Larry and His Flask, plus a random fan who jumped onstage. Photo by Ben.
Local punk-grass powerhouse Larry and His Flask played a homecoming show April 8 at Silver Moon Brewing, and it was an amazing scene. You can watch some video of their final song here, and here’s part of my review:
Long hair and long beards fly in every direction. Sweat soaks shirts from collar to belt buckle. Guitar necks jab into the crowd like bayonets. Unidentified non-band-members hop on stage to sing along.
And later …
Musically, older songs such as “Fire on Sixth Street” and “My Name Is Cancer” stood solidly beside newer ones like “Wolves” and “Ready Your Roommates,” but there were no boundaries between the two. All were played with a fervor that you simply do not see from any other band, and all were played with precision.
I once caught heck from a reader for writing about the punk-rock version of the Flask; he said they weren’t talented. No one could make that claim now, though. These guys no longer trade in skills for energy. In fact, the pickers are excellent, and their harmonies — when they peek through the pandemonium — are, if not perfect, darn close. And the Marshall brothers provide not only a fine rhythm section, but also barrels of personality.
This was one of the best shows of the year so far, and I hope my review does it justice. Read it here and let me know what you think.
Also in this week’s music section: Andre Nickatina returns to Bend, The Expendables invade the Domino Room, North Carolina folkie Jonathan Byrd does a couple house shows and Oregon blues icon Curtis Salgado plays two nights at Mountain’s Edge.
Elsewhere in GO! Magazine, Betty Buckley talks about her “Broadway by Request” show coming to the Tower Theatre, and we detail all the happenings at the Bend Spring Festival (including music by Rootdown, Catie Curtis and more). None of that strikes your fancy? Well then you’re hard to please! But I bet you can find something that interests you in our complete music listings.
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